Move over $15 Sweetgreen order, we’re making you from scratch with even more flavorful toppings and mix-ins.
I’ll admit, Sweetgreen is a bit hit or miss for me but one thing I always come back to is their hot honey chicken plate that’s loaded with chicken, quinoa, sweet potatoes, slaw, and a honey mustard dressing. After ordering it a few times I knew I had to make it myself with an ambitious twist.
These sheet pan hot honey chicken bowls turned out 1000x better and even more flavorful — because in 2025 we’re cooking more nourishing meals at home, of course! I took the base of chicken, quinoa, and sweet potatoes, but jazzed them up by roasting the chicken and sweet potato on a sheet pan with carrots and gorgeous spices, and serving with fresh arugula and cabbage, feta cheese, hot honey, and my favorite Spicy Green Feta Sauce.
OMG these bowls are a texture and flavor explosion in every bite. They pack in tons of protein to keep you full, satisfied, and absolutely glowing. Perfect for prepping and assembling during busy weeks!
Everything you’ll need to make these hot honey chicken bowls
We’re loading up these bowls with deliciously seasoned chicken and vegetables, quinoa for a boost of grains, and lots of fun toppings to tie them together. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- For the chicken & veggies: you’ll start by roasting up bone-in chicken thighs, carrots, and sweet potato with olive oil, sweet paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme, chili powder, salt & pepper.
- Quinoa: we’re adding even more protein and hearty grains with quinoa!
- Fresh veggies: for crunch we’ll load the bowls up with arugula and shredded red cabbage.
- Toppings: finish the bowls off with lemon zest, hot honey, feta cheese, parsley, cilantro, and my famous Spicy Green Feta Sauce.
More protein options
I love how flavorful and crispy the bone-in chicken gets, but you can also use:
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Cooked, cubed chicken breast
- Or a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas to keep the bowls vegetarian
Make these bowls your own
The options are truly endless when it comes to customizing these hot honey chicken bowls. Here are some ideas:
- Pick your veggies: I like to roast up carrots and sweet potato, but you could roast butternut squash instead. For the bowls, feel free to use spinach in place of the arugula.
- For the grains: the quinoa keeps these bowls gluten-free, but you could serve this dish with cooked orzo, pearl couscous or even brown rice.
- For the sauce: I love the savory, herby flavor that the Spicy Green Feta Sauce adds to the bowls, but my Spicy Cilantro Yogurt Sauce would also be delicious.
Can I make the bowls dairy-free?
You bet! Omit the feta cheese and use my Cilantro Pistachio Pesto or my Jalapeño Cashew Cream Sauce.
DIY hot honey
If you don’t have any store-bought hot honey, you can easily make it with regular honey and your favorite hot sauce!
- Add honey and 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce to a small bowl.
- Microwave for 10 seconds.
- Taste and add more hot sauce to adjust to your liking.
Tips for cooking the chicken and veggies
I know bone-in chicken thighs can feel intimidating, but they’re just as easy to cook as boneless! Remember these tips when roasting your chicken and veggies:
- Don’t overcrowd the pain. Spread out the chicken thighs and veggies on a large baking sheet so that they’re evenly spaced out and not touching.
- Cook the chicken skin-side up. Place each chicken thigh on your sheet pan skin-side up so that the skin gets nice and crispy. If you want extra crispy chicken, feel free to place it under the broiler for 1-2 minutes after it’s done cooking. Watch it carefully so that it doesn’t burn!
- Flip the veggies. Halfway through roasting, I recommend stirring the veggies so that they cook more evenly.
Make the perfect fluffy quinoa
I have a whole post about how to cook perfectly fluffy quinoa every time! Check out all of my tips here.
Storing tips
If you’re looking to meal prep these hot honey chicken bowls, I’d recommend storing each component in separate, airtight glass containers until you’re ready to assemble them: chicken and roasted veggies, quinoa, fresh veggies and herbs, and sauce.
More chicken dinners you’ll love
- Whole Roasted Chicken With Potatoes, Lemon, Herbs and Feta
- Slow Cooker Italian Chicken Sandwiches
- Grilled Turmeric Lime Chicken Bowls
- Sheet Pan Jalapeño Pistachio Chicken Meatball Bowls
- Sweet and Spicy Gochujang Chicken Bowls
Get all of my chicken recipes here!
I hope you love these hot honey chicken bowls! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Sheet Pan Hot Honey Chicken and Veggie Glow Bowls
Ingredients
- For the chicken and veggies:
- 2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs (4 large bone-in chicken thighs)
- 3 large carrots, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 2 inch segments/chunks
- 1 medium to large sweet potato, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the quinoa:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups filtered water (or chicken broth)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For serving:
- 4 cups baby arugula
- 2 to 3 cups finely shredded red cabbage
- Lemon zest
- Spicy Green Feta Sauce
- 3 tablespoons hot honey, for drizzling (I used Mike’s Hot Honey)
- 1 to 2 ounces feta, crumbled
- Fresh chopped parsley and cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add the chicken, carrots and sweet potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle on the paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme, chili powder, salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. Toss with clean hands to coat the chicken, sweet potatoes and carrots evenly in spices.
- Add chicken and veggies to the prepared baking sheet and spread out in an even layer ensuring that chicken isn’t touching the veggies and that the chicken is skin side up. You do not want to overcrowd your pan.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring veggies halfway through, and cooking until chicken is fully cooked and reads 165 degrees F on a meat thermometer. If you want extra crispy skin, once done cooking, you can place the chicken under the broiler and broil for 1 to 2 minutes until nice and golden brown. (Just be sure to watch carefully to prevent burning!)
- While the chicken and veggies cook, place quinoa, water and salt in a medium pot and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Once quinoa is done cooking, remove from heat, fluff with a fork and place the lid back on to allow the quinoa to stay warm and steam in the pot for 5 to 10 more minutes.
- To serve: Add about ½ heaping cup of the quinoa to one side of a shallow bowl then add roughly 1 cup of arugula and ½ cup of cabbage to the other side. Drizzle arugula and cabbage with just a little of the spicy green feta sauce, if desired. Top the quinoa with the chicken and 1/4th of the veggies. Drizzle each piece of chicken with about 2 teaspoons of hot honey, then garnish with 1 to 2 tablespoons of crumbled feta, lemon zest and a little fresh chopped cilantro and parsley. Serve extra spicy green feta on the side for dipping and drizzling! Get a little bit of everything with each bite.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
30 comments
I made this tonight for my family and it was devoured. We cut down on the serving suggestions to make it more macro friendly; however, it was so amazing. Everything married well together for this perfect blend of deliciousness.
Perfect! So happy to hear it was a hit!
This was SO good! and loved eating the rainbow. I majorly goofed on the Spicy Feta sauce and didn’t realize it was a clickable different recipe, so I didnt have the jalapeno or the yogurt – BUT I improvized and replaced the yogurt with avocado and extra lemon juice, plus some water to thin it out, and replaced the jalapeno with cayenne pepper. It still came out delicious!!! just a little thick – maybe more water or a little olive oil next time 🙂 Everything else about this was bomb! We did pearled cous cous too. yuM!!!
I’m glad it still turned out delicious! The sauce sounds great even with those swaps 🙂 Great idea to serve with couscous, too!
I just made this for dinner and it’s absolutely delicious! It was super simple and o made it with chicken legs instead of chicken thighs which worked ok really well.
Love that! Glad you enjoyed!
My husband and I made this for dinner last night and we were blown away!!! It was the most delicious meal we’ve had in a long time. Thanks for the great recipe!! I had forgotten to get Arugula and it still turned out delicious. I also didn’t realize that their was an alternate recipe for the spicy green feta sauce so I made your cilantro lime vinaigrette instead from your cookbook and it all came together wonderfully!!
So happy to hear that! And great idea to use that sauce – YUM.
So delicious! I opted to serve it with SideDish honey mustard instead of the spicy feta and it was a great quick combo. Will definitely try again with the spicy feta because that sounds equally delightful!
Love that idea!! Side Dish is my fav 🙂
SO good! The flavors were a welcome departure from the food rotation I had been stuck in. I went in more of a salad forward direction – love that this recipe is very versatile!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
This may genuinely be the best recipe I have ever made. The flavors work so well together and I didn’t even have everything in there. I can absolutely see the feta being FANTASTIC in this, I just forgot to buy it. I will 100% be adding this to a usual cycle and maybe even modeling some other meals after it. Thank you, from a chronic hater of all things that I make 😂😍
Amazing!! So happy you found this dinner!
After seeing those gorgeous photos, I had to make this one! I hoped the dish would have more flavor, but since I didn’t make the feta sauce I can’t accurately judge. I do think that the time and temperature were perfect, yielding tender veggies and MOIST chicken! I will try the technique with other spices and/or more seasoning, Plan to check out your other sheet pan recipes too!
Let me know if you give it a try with the sauce next time! And yes, feel free to up the spices if you’d like 🙂
Delish and so easy!
So glad you enjoyed!
This is such a flavorful bowl! I love all the seasonings on the chicken and veggies and it is made right in the oven on a sheet pan – super easy! The spicy feta yogurt sauce really is the star of the show along with the drizzle of hot honey for serving! I will be making again!
Absolutely! Such a great weeknight dinner!
This was such a yummy and guilt free dinner. I pulled it out right at 30 minutes and the chicken skin was perfectly crispy while the inside was nice and juicy. The veggies were also cooked to perfection, not too soft but also not crunchy. The only variations I made were adding some cumin to the spice rub. Served over sorghum instead of quinoa and I used goat cheese instead of feta. I also did not pay attention to the separate link for the sauce so I ended up using Chipotle Bitchin sauce because that’s what I had on hand. I also added some Pepitas and was going to throw on some avocado but they weren’t quite ripe yet. I love how versatile this meal is and all of the different things you can add to it. Thank you for this recipe! Makes a nice base for people who are clueless like me when it comes to healthy meals lol.
So good!! This one’s great for customizing (and that sauce sounds delicious!)
Five stars!! This was so good!! All the flavors together are amazing! Spicy, sweet, savory!
Everything you could want in a bowl!
amazing … 10/10 … 5 stars … 😍
just so so good!
One of my new favs, too! Glad you loved it!
We had this for dinner tonight and everyone loved it. My daughter is dairy free so we made the sauce with Harmless Harvest unsweetened plain coconut yogurt and Follow Your Heart feta crumbles and it was delicious. We saw the link to the sauce after shopping so we skipped the jalapeño but it was still so good.
Perfect! So glad it was a hit!
This made a delicious meal. I opted to sub the arugula and cabbage for a bed of spinach. I also made the spicy feta with Calabrian chili paste. I’m always game for subbing ingredients and using what I already have in my pantry. 10/10
Love that! Perfect dinner!